The role of the federal government is one that has fallen from grace recently in America.

In order to bypass the political mumbo jumbo and rhetoric, it is easiest to ask, “Can the federal government tell you how to live?” The federal government and state government have been butting heads on a widespread scale for some time now, and several states have adopted legislation that takes direct action against what they feel are infringements on their rights protected by the federal government.

Most notable is Wyoming’s declaration in House Bill No. HB0095, that went on to be signed into law, stating that the federal government has no right to regulate firearms manufactured completely in Wyoming, and that any government official that infringes on Wyoming’s right to manufacture firearms will be arrested, fined, and maybe even imprisoned. The actual language of the legislation reads as follows:

“A personal firearm, a firearm accessory or ammunition that is manufactured commercially or privately in Wyoming is not subjected to federal law, federal taxation or federal regulation, including registration, under the authority of the United States congress to regulate interstate commerce.” The “teeth” of the legislation is in tow shortly after this portion, in section 6 – 8 – 405.

“Any official, agent or employee of the United States government who enforces or attempts to enforce any act, order, law, statue, rule or regulation of the United States government upon a personal firearm, a firearm accessory or ammunition that is manufactured commercially or privately in Wyoming shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, shall be subject to imprisonment for not more than two [2] years, a fine of not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00), or both.”

It would appear for all intents and purposes that Wyoming is done playing games with the federal government. Its reaction to what it saw as encroachment on its rights is a rebuff that says to the federal government, “You work with us as a partner, not as a supervisor. Don’t get it twisted.” Wyoming is not the only state to do this. Utah, in House Bill 146, restricts Federal Law Enforcement Officers from enforcing any law that isn’t stated in federal law, and only in places that are federally owned.

Firearm control is not the only issue that state and federal governments are bracing to swing swords over. The President’s National Drug Control Strategy directly contradicts many state decisions regarding drugs. States like California and Colorado have found themselves at odds with the 117 page document, as the agenda put forward in the document is in direct conflict with what the states tried to do when they legalized marijuana. An excerpt reads as follows: “Keeping drugs illegal reduces their availability and lessens willingness to use them. That is why this Administration firmly opposes the legalization of marijuana or any other illicit drug.”

This seems contrary to what many would perceive as reality: that making marijuana illegal set the market for it, much like the prohibition set the market for mobsters to run booze.

The policy also says, “The number-one cause of the drug problem in the United States is our enormous demand for drugs.” That’s right, the reason we have a drug problem is that we have a demand for drugs. Its our fault. It has nothing to do with the slow defeat of the war on drugs, or our government’s refusal to accept that marijuana should be legal. It’s us, the American people; we are the problem because we generate the demand, and that, completely in and of itself, is the number one cause of the drug problem in this country.

Does anyone else feel dumber after reading that? I mean, seriously? If a doctor told you, “The number one cause of the pain in your knee is the weight you have to put on it,” you would wonder where in the world your doctor went to school. When I read the federal government’s suggestion that America’s leading cause of the drug problem is the demand, it’s almost enough to make me wonder if any of them graduated the sixth grade.

What causes the demand? Why do people want drugs so badly?

They don’t take the time to ask those questions, much less answer them. They do, however, take the time to compare drugs to firearms. “Drug overdose deaths surpass gunshot deaths in our country,” the document reads. Demonizing two birds with one stone is a clever but old trick. I was waiting to read some anecdote where a child is run over by a stoned driver who’s wildly firing a revolver in the air while on the way to club a baby seal, but it never happened.

Does the federal government have the right to rule? Can it dictate to the states what they will and won’t do, what is and isn’t legal?

I would think not. I would put forward that every state has the right to make its own laws, and that they should be supported by the federal government. This type of thinking is apparently not present on Capitol Hill, and states are having to put laws in place in order to protect their sovereignty.